Scuttling Feet
by ribbonandbuttons
Summary: Ron has had a run in with spiders. Oneshot.


**Scuttling Feet**

The rickety wooden door slammed hard behind him but Ron couldn't find the feelings in his overworked brain to care if it had woken anybody up in the large house. By the time the lamp on the ceiling automatically clicked on, thanks to some of Hermione's charms of course, Ron had already pulled his dirty and ripped robes over his head and dropped them on the black tiled floor. Ron flung his t-shirt across the small room and started on his belt buckle, kicking his shoes off one at a time. He hit the tap in the bathtub and water spurted out of the shower quickly. It took a second to warm up but as soon as he had got rid of his jeans and boxers he stepped into the blistering fall of water and relaxed his tense muscles.

The water around his feet turned a murky shade of brown and red as the muck and caked blood was removed from his arms and face. Ron's pale skin turned red due to the heat of the water. He needed the water to be roasting hot to get rid of the feeling and the smell but he couldn't scorch the memory of what they had did to him away. Ron shuddered just at the thought. He felt the water cool down and a groan escaped his lips. Hermione or Ginny must've taken a shower earlier. He and Harry had been taught in Auror training to take as little time as possible in the shower as it was a place where your wand was not with you. Ron's gaze flashed automatically towards the sink at the end of the bath and shower where his wand was sitting in a cup along with the four different coloured toothbrushes that belonged to the residents of the house.

Ron sighed again as he wondered why the water supply at Grimmauld Place was so bad at keeping its water hot. Ron scrubbed on his arms and chest, his fingernails dragging into his skin as he made large red scratches in his skin across his chest. He scrubbed until his skin was raw and he couldn't bare to touch his arms anymore. When the water was merely luke warm on Ron's over heated skin he stepped out, the scars all over his body shone white against the red. Ron had spent more time in the shower than he normally did but he didn't even feel clean at all. Ron shivered as he was hit with another memory of the night he had just spent, which induced the feeling of thousands of legs crawling all over him.

Ron felt another roll of nausia and lunged for the toilet. He made it just in time just as he threw up. He felt his knees wobble and his stomach twist and turn as it propelled everything upwards again, he had already been sick several times back in the Ministry. Ron felt his face grow hot and when he was sure he wasn't going to throw up again he sat back against the bath. It creaked as he shifted his weight and he reached up for his wand to send a drying charm towards him. The warmth surrounded him like he was standing in front of a vent and he was dry within seconds. Ron gave a another heaving sigh and gripped the edge of the sink as he hauled himself up.

His bare feet hit the nearly thread bare carpet of the hall and he angled himself towards the direction his and Harry's old room that he and Hermione now shared. He paused for a moment at the door of the bathroom and smirked to himself. Although he was very tired, his Auror skills were still working hard, apparently Harry's were as well.

"It's just me Harry." He whispered and a stair at the end of the hall creaked. Ron knew that Harry had now moved and was probably cursing himself for making a noise. Even if no one untrained would've heard it. Ron couldn't help but smile again.

"The locket." Harry's voice came still on edge. Ron sighed. Harry had demanded that they still used a secret question system and Ron was pretty sure that the two of them were only people in the Auror department and in the whole wizarding world to still use it.

"You and Hermione y'know." Ron said reluncatantly. He hated that this was their secret question but Harry had insisted as it was something neither of them were going to share with anyone. There was silence but Ron knew that Harry had relaxed.

"Well maybe you can wake someone on Mars next time you take a shower." Harry's voice came to Ron in a quiet whisper which made him laugh. He heard Harry chuckle but he still didn't move from the end of the hall.

"You knew it was me anyway, or else you would've kicked the door down and hexed me into oblivion." Ron muttered, his tiredness finally catching up with him. "What deatheater takes a shower before he attacks the people in the house eh?"

He heard Harry laugh again but it cut off abruptly. "You were sick" Harry didn't ask but stated as a fact and Ron sighed to himself.

"Long story." Ron answered. "I'm fine."

"Ok." Harry said but Ron could still hear the concern in his voice. "How did the raid go?"

"That's the long story." Ron half groaned, half yawned. "We got him in the end."

"Alright then." Harry murmured and Ron heard him yawn himself. "Get some sleep then, early start."

Ron smirked at Harry's remark.

"Night Harry." Ron heard him move back upstairs to bed. Ron sighed and continued down the hall until his room. He opened the door expertly, making sure it didn't creak but he knew that Hermione was probably awake waiting on him. He dropped his robes on the floor and tip toed over to his side of the double bed that now sat in place of his and Harry's two seperate single beds when they stayed here during the summer of fifth year. He slipped under the covers and the closer to Hermione he shuffled the warmer they were. Ron relaxed into the warmth and let his body give into the sleepy feeling it had been fighting the whole way home. He jumped and shuddered as a few warm and soft fingers skimmed across his arm.

"What?" Hermione asked slightly shocked as he flinched away from her. "Ron?"

"Just spiders." Ron mumbled, his brain already slowing down and threw his arm across Hermione's stomach. She let out a soft small laugh and snuggled into him more. Ron hadn't realised how cold he was until her skin pressed against his.

"When isn't it?" She asked into his shoulder and Ron smiled again and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Try not to wake up in the middle of the night and think I am one." Hermione muttered into his skin. "I really don't want to explain to the mediwitches at St Mungo's again."

"That was one time." Ron whispered. He was so tired that he nearly couldn't remember the last time he had woken up after a bad dream and thought Hermione was a deatheater so he cursed her and they had to floo to the emergency department of St Mungo's. But that had been over a year ago, when he was in the last stages of training, the most stressful part.

"Hmmph." Hermione half moaned and tightened her hold on Ron. "What happened this time?"

"Just a raid gone bad." He whispered to her and she nodded silently. Hermione hated to hear all of Harry and Ron's horrific stories, Ginny on the other hand loved them. "He knew I didn't like them."

Hermione sighed and wrapped her arms and legs around him to fully squeeze him tight. Ron smiled into her bushy hair and squeezed back.

"There's no spiders in here." She whispered to him sleepily and Ron watched as her eyes reluctantly drooped shut. Ron smiled and closed his eyes. Ron was just about to drop off but his Auror skills kicked in and did another sweep of the house, listening for any abnormal sounds of small scuttling feet.

_review please, ta Sx_


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